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Just sounds like you are feeling impulsive and dont have much patience for the process. It’s gonna take as long as it takes. Just keep doing the 4 hour sessions till its done.
Jeff Gogue traveled to japan multiple times a year for 12x 10 hour sessions and it took him like a year and a half to do his back body suit. 101 hours total he said. Tattooing takes time, and multiple trips and multiple passes to make a great tattoo.
you’re working within your budget and doing what you can, that’s all you can do, you’re right where you should be. i will say that in my experience of tattooing people, usually pale skin is the easiest for me to tattoo.

Well, you should know that you’re going to develop bad habits such as poor hygiene and sanitation practices, possibly causing future client’s bad infections and potential lawsuits, possibly face legal action at home if you actually tattoo someone, you’re likely to develop poor needle depth and damage, and generally have no understanding of how traumatic your movements and motions are to the skin but sure, and many more bad habits
Fk irons
Cheyenne
Neo tat
Bishop
Dan Kubin
You can find some semi decent alternative on the worldwide tattoo site, or the painful pleasures site.
If anyone claims that their passion is tattooing but is too lazy to try and find an apprenticeship, then you’re just lying to yourself, you get what you work for.
However, sometimes i know that’s not always a legitimate option due to real logistical issues, and i can understand the curiosity. Do yourself a favor though, exhaust all possible options - even if it means taking 6-12 months to become a better artist to get into an apprenticeship.

Hey guys, I recently purchased a Xion S for tattooing and I was previously using Helios Cartridges which seemed decent. I am looking for MEMBRANE only cartridges and I was wondering what cartridges out there you guys would recommend. Since I use the Xion S, I can only use membrane cartridges in the future with it.
I just placed an order for 20 bugpin 07 RL SLT precision cartridges, and I placed an order for a couple Cheyenne Craft groupings soft edge magnums.
What other cartridges would you guys recommend? Recently tried bigwasp Gen2 with the membrane and theyre such crap that honestly ive been thinking about throwing them all in the trash. Only reason I havent is because I cant afford to be wasting money at this point in my tattoo career lol.
need a high quality work horse cartridge with varying size options (like bugpin and long taper stuff =) ty guys

If you’re asking these questions and you have not exhausted your options as far as getting an apprenticeship go, then honestly that’s just lazy. You should not even try to tattoo your own hand again dude, especially your own palm..... if you’re tattooing yourself at least practice on the thigh , jesussssss

Good morning guys, taking opinions in the best rotary out there for linework. Currently have an Inkjecta but i have to ship it to Australia for parts inspection and need a replacement.
Got it my eye mainly on the Cheyenne pen, Xion, Seashdrive Brush, any other suggestions for cartridge rotary liners ?

Practicing on fake skin and pig skin can only give you some of the understanding of how to tattoo a real person, because real human skin involves stretching and angling your hand and body, and adjusting the needle depth to the skin region - if you tattoo on someone’s inner forearm or wrist the way you tattoo on the back, you’re in for a world of blow outs lol. Pig skin and fake skin also don’t get cut or damaged the same as live human skin
I work with a rotary machine so increasing voltage increases the speed of the needle striking the skin - speed also affects the momentum and force of the needle. If the machine is running too fast, the same portions of skin will be struck too many times too hard and can cause damage. Depth of the needle can also cause damage, and TYPE of needle can also cause damage if the needle grouping is tight combined with higher voltage (speed)
That being said, the idea is to have the needle hitting at a speed that is non harmful, and moving your hand at a speed which can make sure the needle is able to deliver enough ink in an area to create a solid line, but not slow enough that the same place is hit too many times. Needle depth is also critical, too shallow of a line and perfect hand speed and voltage will still yield inconsistent lines. Too deep and obviously you get the joy of seeing a tiny black vein or area spread next to your line.
My mentor informed me that the shorter stroke is better for lining because you can increase the speed of the needle strike, while making sure the force of each impact is not too much to damage the skin. A large stroke cam, combined with a higher voltage will cut the skin most likely because it is too strong of an impact for the small area of the needle tip. So small stroke will allow you to increase the speed high enough that you have a less chance of damaging the skin simply through the momentum of the needle.
*edit* note that 10 volts 2.5cam will hit much less hard but at the same speed compared to a 4.0 cam with 10 volts.

I am an apprentice at a shop right now and I’m having similar difficulty friend, you are not alone lol. I have an inkjecta and there are many combinations for the inkjecta setup. So far it seems like the best setup for linework is a short stroke 2.5-3mm and the rigid bar. As the others have said the most important thing seems to be experience. Needle depth is critical as well, and obviously it takes a lot of hands on experience to learn the different areas of the body and also each persons skin is slightly different. So try testing out the client’s skin in the areas with more room for error (spots where you will blow out less)
edit ; also your personal combination of hand speed and voltage

You don’t want to bring sketches. You want to bring 12-15 fully finished rendered / colored drawings. You will want to show that you can do good linework and have some understanding on what makes for a good tattoo design. Use the vast information on the internet to research what makes a good tattoo design, and use some iconic type tattoo imagery. You don’t want drawings that are going to be impossible to translate into a tattoo - or if you do, make it just 1 or 2 drawings at most.
I recently obtained a tattoo apprenticeship which quickly turned into being a full artist. I did exactly as i described above, went to every tattoo shop in a 20 mile radius to check it out, bringing my portfolio. Ask for advice on the direction for your art work and inform them you are wanting to learn to tattoo. It might just be a numbers game till you find a shop with space for an apprentice.

Depends on the artist i think. Some fo the highly regarded artists in this field have the pick of skin that they choose to tattoo due to very high demand for their art. In that case you usually go in and see what kind of ideas they have. Worst comes to worst you can walk out of there before the tattoo begins.
Most places will give you rough sketch as to the plan, and most will give some kind of consult. This is for like the vast majority of tattoo shops. But if you’re flying in from way out of town then maybe he is one of the A rated tattooists.
but like you said you want to give this artist the artist freedom they need to thrive so give them the space and trust if you love their other artwork then believe in them.

So, here is the first tattoo I ever did on someone. I did this one about 1 week ago now, I realize after I forgot to color in the wick of the candle ! haha. Ill have to have him come back, surprised no one else noticed. thoughts? https://imgur.com/iOwNPuv